Study on Fatigue Crack Growth in the Presence of a Hole in the Vicinity of the Crack Path

Abstract

The presence of a hole in the vicinity of a growing fatigue crack may lead to deviation of the crack path. If the hole is too near the crack path, the crack may terminate at the edge of the hole, leading to crack arrest. In this project, a finite element based two dimensional crack propagation simulator software FRANC2D and a pre-processor software for this simulator CASCA developed by Cornell Fracture Group of Cornell University was used for prediction of crack propagation in a beam containing a hole. Four point bending test experiment was carried out on an aluminum beam and crack growth propagation behavior was observed. These two observations i.e. from FRANC2D and experiment were compared.